The Internet is a worldwide computer network arranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information between computer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world have access to computers connected to the Internet via Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Content providers place multimedia information, i.e. text, graphics, sounds, and other forms of data, at specific locations on the Internet referred to as websites. The combination of all the websites and their corresponding webpages on the Internet is generally known as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply web.
Email Users routinely send electronic messages (also known as electronic mail or email) to each other over the Internet. Email may contain, for example, text, images, links, and attachments. Email is one of the most widely used methods of communication over the Internet due to the variety of data that may be transmitted, large number of available recipients, speed, low cost and convenience.
Emails may be sent, for example, between friends, family members, coworkers, customers and businesses thereby substituting for traditional letters and office correspondences in many situations. Emails travel across the Internet, typically passing from server to server, at amazing speeds achievable only by electronic data. The Internet provides the ability to send an email anywhere in the world, often in less than a few seconds. Delivery times are continually being reduced as the Internet's ability to transfer electronic data improves.
Most Email Users find email to be much more convenient than traditional mail. Traditional mail requires stamps and envelopes to be purchased and a supply maintained, while emails do not require the costs and burden of maintaining a supply of associated products. Emails may also be sent with the click of a few buttons, while letters typically need to be transported to a physical location, such as a mailbox, before being sent.
Email Users may send and read their email messages using either desktop computer programs, such as MICROSOFT OUTLOOK and IBM LOTUS NOTES (desktop or client-based systems), or via Websites connected to mail servers (Web-based Email Systems).
Web-based Email Systems include a Website connected to Mail Server. Email Users may log onto the Website to read and send emails. A log in process is typically used to authenticate the Email User, by asking for a user ID and password. The advantage of Web-based Email Systems is that the email messages may be more easily sent and accessed from any computer connected to the Internet. This advantage is becoming more pronounced as Email Users want to access their files from an increasing number of locations, e.g. work, home, various travel destinations, etc.
The increase in email use has resulted in an increase in the amount of confidential information transmitted over the Internet. This practice has created a need to improve the security of the transmission process for emails. Protocols, such as S/MIME, PGP, OpenPGP, PEM, and MOSS, have been created and used to protect the privacy of emails and to authenticate the identity of the sender of an email. However, the implementation of these conventional protocols typically requires Email Users to perform multiple steps to create a PKI Email Account with an email system. These conventional steps often result in the Email User having to contact a Certificate Authority and an Email System, and receiving and transmitting their PKI digital keys over the Internet, thereby unnecessarily complicating the process and possibly exposing and compromising the security of their digital keys.
New systems and processes are therefore needed to improve on the security of transmitting and receiving emails. Specifically, new systems and processes are required to simplify the process of creating a PKI Email Account with a Web-based Email System as well the processes for digitally signing, encrypting, and decrypting emails.